When Worlds Collide
by phoenixreal
Summary: The Avengers are surprised when a man falls from the sky and leaves a crater in Manhatten. Ichigo is also surprised to wake up in a new world after falling through a garganta in Heuco Mundo during a fight with a strange arrancar. When two worlds come together, sparks are sure to fly. Ichigo finds out that no matter where he goes, there are those that need protection.
1. Fall of a Shinigami

**When Worlds Collide**

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><p><span><em>Author's Notes:<em>

_This is a canon crossover divergent fanfiction. Characters from the Marvel Universe and the Bleach universe are placed together. This story is set in the Avengers world for the most part. This story occurs a few months after the Avengers movie in the Cinematic Marvel Universe. In the Bleach universe, the story takes place after the fullbringer arc and after Ichigo's powers are restored by Soul Society._

_Warnings_

_ This is a hardcore yaoi fanfiction. This is rated MA. This contains explicit sexual content. This story includes abduction, physical/mental/sexual torture, and non-consensual sexual situations. This story is not intended to be read by individuals under the age of 18._

_Disclaimer_

_I do not claim ownership of any part of the Bleach universe or of the Bleach characters. Tite Kubo owns this amazing world; I am simply playing within it. I also do not own any part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe or Marvel properties. Original elements do belong to me. There is no copyright infringement intended and I in no way make money from writing or posting this work of fanfiction._

__11-16: Minor edits. And this has been Marvel-picked by my husband, a Marvel fan of over 20 years with Iron Man and Captain America being his two faves. So anyone with the stupid comment that this isn't "realistic" can go elsewhere. Seriously, what is wrong with people? Whatever happened to suspension of disbelief? This is a fantasy story, not reality. My husband is very critical. And he liked it, though I did make a few changes he suggested to both chapters one and two.__

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><p><strong>Chapter One<strong>

_Fall of a Shinigami_

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><p>Falling was always an unusual sensation. The world was speeding past, wind whipping the body this way and that, and then, the sudden, hard stop at the end. Of course, in a normal person, that stop would shatter every bone and kill them instantly. What else would happen? It just didn't make sense for someone to fall from around thirty thousand feet or so, hit concrete and leave a crater, then stand up. Of course not. Most people would have thought that in New York before there was an alien invasion by a Norse god repelled by another Norse god, a super soldier, a man in a flying suit of armor, two assassins, and a rage beast.<p>

It wasn't any wonder when a falling man came crashing down in the middle of New York and left a crater at least fifteen feet wide and five feet deep, no one was all that surprised. People gathered around curious and looked down, not sure what it was, but it was covered with rubble and smoking from the impact. The figure, however, wasn't getting up. An ambulance showed up a few moments later, but considering the strangeness of the situation, they didn't want to go down to see what it was. A few more minutes later, a helicopter came down and hovered over the crater and a couple men rappelled down. A few moments later, a backboard came down, and those watching saw what looked like a person being put onto the backboard and lifted up, followed by then two men. The helicopter went up where it rendezvoused with the SHIELD helicarrier above them.

Street maintenance came out and began fixing the crater, and the people of New York went about their lives once more. There was a small blurb on the evening news, and that was all that was heard about the man that fell from the sky. At least, by the public at large.

On the helicarrier, it was another story all together. Everyone was bustling and Fury had already put a call in to the Avengers to get to helicarrier immediately. They had no idea what they had, but they had something that had managed to survive a fall from around thirty thousand feet and looked perfectly fine other than being unconscious and having shredded clothing. Fury now stood outside the med bay as the man, boy really, by the look, was put through multiple scans. Already, Fury was working out the possibilities. The obvious was that he was another attempt at the super soldier project. There were alien possibilities as well, though he did not appear to be alien in origin. Of course, the biggest question was what the individual's intent would be. Concepts of good and evil were popularized in the media, but Fury knew better.

He watched as the doctors and nurses worked around the body. He hadn't moved the slightest bit since they pulled him out of the crater. He already knew that he was going to have an argument on the team. Stark would want to investigate before making a conclusion. Rogers would want to take a better safe than sorry approach. He would have to decide before they arrived or else the bickering between those two would drive him out of his mind. He tapped thoughtfully against his lip as he watched. The doctor came out a second later.

"Director, sir, the scans reveal him as human. Mostly human, I should say. I can't pin down an actual DNA sequence. He has blood, but the elements are off, I can't explain it. It may be my instruments aren't sensitive enough for this," the dark haired man said sadly.

"You're betting that Stark would have better luck," Fury said, looking at him.

"Sir, I hate to tell you what to do, but Mr. Stark tends to solve problems like this easily. He was the one that came the closest to being able to understand Asgardian magic, and no one else can replicate the things that he does," the meek doctor said nervously.

Fury nodded. "Thank you," he said, dismissing him. Always back to Tony Stark. It seemed like he would have to lean toward siding with him to get what he wanted out of the infernal man. He'd need him to do the work to discover what this person was, and if he started off on the wrong foot when they arrived, he'd decide to disagree with everything Fury said.

"Director?" came another voice behind him. Fury turned to see one of the female scientists that had been assigned to look over the weapon the boy had been found with. "We've secured the weapon we found with him in the next bay. We are having no luck with analysis."

Fury nodded. Again, the only one who would be able to figure out how to even test the weapon would be Stark. Sometimes he hated his job, having to figure out how to not only assess the threat this unknown person posed, but figure out how to manipulate Stark into doing what he wanted without the brilliant man realizing that he was being manipulated. He sighed and watched. A few minutes later Fury felt a presence and turned to see Bruce, Tony and Steve had all arrived. Clint and Natasha were on assignment and would come in as soon as they could do so safely.

"So, we've got a mystery," Fury said as they strapped the figure's legs and arms down to the bed. "He landed in the middle of Manhattan. Left a fifteen foot crater, good five or six feet deep in the asphalt. As you can see, his clothes were shredded, but he seems to be fine other than being unconscious, not a wound on his body now, though when he was found, he was bruised and cut. His body seems to have healed completely in the last five hours since he was picked up."

Steve looked through the window of the medbay as the doctors and nurses walked around taking readings. "What's he wearing?" he said, glancing at the remains of the black, wide legged pants that were tied on with some sort of white sash. He wore a black cloak style jacket that had bands over his chest with black gloves.

"Some sort of ancient Japanese style dress, from what the boys in research can tell, authentic, and not made of any material we've ever seen. However, there is no record of something that looks exactly like what he's wearing. Whatever it is, it seems to be mending itself," Fury said with a nod at the places that a moment ago had been ripped. "And other than that, he has a modern haircut," he said as the nurse picked up the back of the bed to reveal that he had a head full of spiked, short hair that was an obnoxiously loud orange color. There was something like a high collar or something on his neck.

"And he had a sword," Fury said, taking them to where the next room was secured with a guard outside. Inside, on the table was a long, thin sword that had a very unusual shape and a pitch black blade. "The sword is very real, but there are no forging marks. So we don't get what exactly made that sword. We honesty can't do any measurements on it to even begin to tell what the thing is made of."

They stepped back in front of the medbay where the boy was still laying quietly unconscious. Bruce looked at Fury who nodded at him. "Go ahead, see what you can make of him," Fury said. Bruce went and headed into the room to look him over.

Tony stepped up beside Fury and looked into the room. "So, any idea at all?" he asked.

Fury shook his head. "We've got nothing. He just appeared, from what we got from area radar, about thirty thousand feet up. He hit terminal velocity. His teeth should be powdered with that impact."

Steve nodded. "I probably could survive that kind of fall," he said, looking at him.

Fury nodded. "That's what worries me. What if we're dealing with another super soldier experiment? We know there are people who would try. Hydra was only one of them. And there are other possibilities. He's not Asgardian, we already compared his readings to both Thor's and Loki's, so there isn't a match there. The truth is we can't get a good idea with our instruments."

"Well, we could move him to the tower when he wakes up if he doesn't have need of medical care," Tony said with a nod, already reading where Fury was headed.

Steve put a hand up and shook his head. "No, Stark, we need to put him in a secure cell."

Tony glared at him. "There's no reason to think there's any reason to put him in a cell."

Steve started to argue and Fury put his hand up. "No, Steve, he's got a point. Better to keep him in an area where we've got eyes on him all the time and can access exactly what his potential for danger is right now without ruining any chance at gaining allegiance."

Tony turned to Fury and scowled. "Is that all you see in there? An ally or an enemy?"

Fury looked at him and sighed. He already knew that was coming, just like the argument between Stark and Rogers. It seemed like no matter what over the last month, if one of those two said something, the other would argue it. He was beginning to wonder if Rogers said the sky was blue if Tony was going to argue it was an off color of cerulean. Knowing Stark, he probably would.

Inside the med bay, Bruce was turned away in the room when the boy's eyes fluttered open and closed. He frowned and rolled his head. Tony stood up and started to knock on the window but the kid's eyes shot open. It looked like he realized that he was somewhere unfamiliar and he was restrained. His eyes darted from one arm to the other but he otherwise didn't move. He couldn't see outside the window, so he had no idea anyone else besides Bruce was there. Fury put his hand on Tony to hold him back so they could see what he did. The boy scowled, and yanked both arms up at the same time, efficiently snapping the bindings off his arm, and getting Bruce's attention with the sound.

He was reaching for the bindings on his ankle when Bruce turned toward him, and Tony went around into the room, followed quickly by Steve. Tony and Steve were both going into the room for different reasons. Steve was wary and ready to react. Tony wanted to find out who and what the kids was.

"Hey there, kid," Tony said, sliding up beside him and grabbing his hands before he could snatch the leg restraints off of himself, surprising him. Tony smiled as he turned to stare at him. "Hey, you're okay?"

The young man frowned and tipped his head to the side. "English?" he said softly.

Tony exchanged glances with Bruce. "Um, yeah, we speak English, do you?"

He licked his lips and frowned. "Yes, I do, I don't often speak it, so I may not be fluent."

Tony nodded, pulling his hands away from the ankle restraints. "I'm guessing you speak Japanese, by the look," Tony said, letting his hands go and picking at the leg of the boy's pants. "You got a name?"

"K-Kurosaki Ichigo," he said, looking around the room. "I…how…I was in…and there was a blast…and…"

Tony nodded, sitting down beside him on the bed, more to keep him talking than anything. Bruce was working behind him, running some detailed brain scans now that he was awake, and Steve stood to the side. Tony could tell that Steve was set to attack if need be. Fury was still outside, Tony guessed.

"Kurosaki, that's your family name, right?" Tony asked. "Ichigo is your given name?"

Ichigo nodded. "Yeah," he said, looking around the room still.

"Okay, well, I'm Tony Stark, that's Dr. Bruce Banner, and Captain Steve Rogers. You're on a helicarrier owned by SHIELD, a military type thing that we work for," Tony said, watching his eyes. He was alert. "We kind of found you in the middle of New York where you fell from about thirty thousand feet in the air."

Ichigo frowned and nodded. "Yeah, I remember falling. I was fighting, and the garganta opened behind me, and someone, one of the arrancar, they pushed me through, and then I was falling. I've never seen one open so high. I couldn't stop, usually I can use my reiatsu to stop myself from falling, but it wasn't working, and my shihakuso was shredded, so I knew something was wrong with my reiatsu…" he said, looking around still.

"What's that? Reiatsu?" Bruce said, looking at him over a tablet he was making notes in.

"Um, spiritual pressure, I…wait, you can see me?" he said, suddenly realizing that they were all looking at him. "Ah, damn I wish my kido was better," he muttered, not able to sense reiatsu was such a detriment sometimes.

Tony was watching him closely. His eyes were definitely Asian, almond shaped and deep brown, but his hair was such an odd color. He'd met quite a few Japanese businessmen in his time, and spoke conversational Japanese, though he was nowhere near fluent in the language. The Asian languages were complex, and while given a little time he'd know them…he wasn't in the position to do that now. Tony saw some things he recognized. The calculating gaze of a fighter of some sort, the alertness of someone who had been in battle many times, and the tightly wound nature of someone used to reacting to things rather than acting first were all quite present in that face.

"So, you know how to use that sword you had with you?" Tony asked, pointing to the sword.

Ichigo's head whipped to the side. "Zangetsu!" he said. "Where is he? Give him back to me," he said, eyes narrowing at Tony and then Bruce and Steve.

"Him?" Bruce asked, frowning at him as he unfrosted the glass into the next bay where the sword was held.

Ichigo grit his teeth and glared at them each again. He could see that the sword was fine and still in bankai, like his clothes. "He's fine," he said softly with a sigh. "Good, whatever happened didn't hurt him. Kami thank you," he muttered. "I was so afraid, Ojiisan," he said, looking through the window at the strange, solid black sword.

"Ojiisan?" Tony said. He thought that meant grandfather or something.

"Well, I have to make sure he's still there!" Ichigo said, closing his eyes and sensing Zangetsu vividly. It was actually much easier to contact the spirit than ever before. He frowned as Zangetsu related what had happened to him. "He's upset, of course, we're not…we're not in the right place," he said, looking around. "This…this isn't my home, this isn't…wait, seriously?" he said, eyes still closed and head tilted to the side. He wasn't completely slipping into his world, just brushing the spirit's consciousness. "How do I get home, Zangetsu?" he said. "Rest, Zangetsu," he said softly, closing his eyes and the thin blade in the next room, becoming much larger and looked to nearly be as long as he was tall, and broad with only a thin black wrapping to cover the metal of the hilt. His clothes changed, too, shifting from the long coat in red and black into a simpler black tied tunic, but there were still black bands on his neck, as though the very pattern was a part of his body.

"Oh, maybe that was a bad idea," he muttered, his eyes rolling up. "Seems bankai was keeping me awake," he said as he fell back into the bed unconscious again.

Tony frowned and looked up at Bruce. Bruce shook his head. "I can't explain this at all, the readings are impossible."

Tony sighed, rubbing his face. What in the world was going on?

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Ichigo had no idea what had happened. Hueco Mundo was teeming with hollows, far more than they had anticipated. It was in the sands before they'd even gotten back to Las Noches. Ichigo hadn't had his shinigami powers back for very long, and he'd been asked to go on a mission to Hueco Mundo to investigate some strange readings Kurosuchi had gotten lately. It was then that an arrancar had attacked them. It wasn't like anything they'd ever seen before and it dove straight at Ichigo with a vengeance. It pressed him and pressed him, and he couldn't understand the things it was screaming at him. Then it used its russurecion to turn into a new creature that looked vaguely like a fox and then some sort of portal opened behind him. It shoved Ichigo through and he fell. The last he saw was the creature being blown apart by one of Uryuu's arrows. There was a moment between worlds where it felt like his whole body was being pulled apart, unlike any garganta he'd been in. Then, he was blinking into a sky. Then, the portal snapped closed and he couldn't stop himself from falling for some reason.

He awoke with a start and a gasp the second time. He was still restrained, but he was more than capable of breaking them again. However, he was alone in this place. Zangetsu said that they were in the "wrong world" and that he didn't know how to get back. He looked around the darkened room to see the dark haired guy from before; Tony Stark was his name, sitting in the corner with a tablet. Ichigo was quiet for a moment and assessed what he'd seen before.

Tony Stark seemed to be the one in charge in some ways, and earlier he'd been wearing a suit and tie like some sort of businessman, yet he had on converse sneakers with it. The blond, Captain Rogers Tony had called him, wore slacks and a button up shirt and looked vaguely like half the old men who played majong down at the tea house in the afternoon. The Doctor, Bruce Banner, looked somewhat meek, with messy brown hair and a white lab coat over a simple polo shirt and a pair of relatively new looking slacks. Both the Captain and the Doctor wore dress shoes. Tony, however, seemed to be the one that while the most well dressed, also was the most comfortable. He adjusted and saw that Tony had taken off the suit jacket and button up shirt and sat in a black tank shirt and his black slacks. He was still wearing the dark blue converse sneakers. He seemed immersed in the tablet at the moment.

Ichigo cleared his throat and Tony looked up from the dim glow of the tablet. Ichigo could see that the glow in the room wasn't coming from the tablet, but from a blue glowing circle in his chest.

"You're up again," Tony said and stood up, putting the tablet down on the table beside him. "Feeling any better?"

Ichigo swallowed and nodded. "My shihakuso, my clothes, is mended, so my reiatsu is back to normal," he said, feeling his kusodo and his hakama thoughtfully and looking around. "Where am I again? I know you told me once but I'm still having trouble believing I'm where I heard earlier."

"New York," Tony said, coming and sitting on the side of the bed and untying his hands. "Bruce was worried because you passed out and we didn't know why, and Fury's over the top with the security, so they put the restraints on you. I told them that it was useless since you busted them before. He didn't want to give you back the blade either."

Ichigo nodded and rubbed his wrists and looked around at the sparsely decorated room. It wasn't like a hospital room. "So…I feel really odd," he said, rubbing his head. "Like I'm different than before I fell though that garganta or whatever it was," he said softly.

Tony looked at him. "How old are you?" he asked.

"Seventeen-ish," Ichigo said, not really looking at him, instead trying to focus inward to figure out what had happened. "Wait…" he muttered and looked at Tony. "Something's different with me…but this isn't my human body, so maybe that has something to do with it."

Tony nodded. So the kid had some sort of intuition, and said he had a human body, meaning he wasn't human in this body. "Yeah, Bruce said you were easily between sixteen and twenty or even older, but he couldn't tell for sure. You could be ten years old for all he can tell with his instruments, and since I invented them; that's saying something. You had talked about a portal, and we think it may have been something that took you across space and time. We've had some run ins with those kind of objects, perhaps whatever you were fighting had one of them."

"Yes, it happened when I went through the portal. I felt my body being pushed and pulled apart and by the time I was on the other side, in the sky here; all my spiritual energy was drained. Perhaps whatever that portal was supposed to do, my spiritual energy protected me," he said thoughtfully. "The backlash then recoiled into my form and gave me a form but doing so changed me to reflect my soul form's age rather than my human body's age and made me a corporeal visage. Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to see me without a gigai or my human body, and this is most definitely not a gigai or human body. It is possible if I could get back, I'd be normal again, but I'm not sure," he said thoughtfully.

"You're pretty smart, huh?" Tony said, looking him over. Tony had no idea what some of those strange words meant, but right now was more about rapport with him than understanding everything he said.

Ichigo shrugged. "About some things," he said. "Actually even about this I'm pretty dumb. Others know more about it than I do. I sort of stumbled into doing what I do."

"Well, I'm a genius, so I notice things," Tony said, eyes scanning Ichigo's face again.

Ichigo looked up and smirked. "Not very humble, are you?"

"Hell no, I'm a billionaire too, so I don't have to be," he said, smirking in return. "I'm also Iron Man." He was obviously quite proud of this fact.

"Iron Man?" Ichigo asked, frowning. He had no idea what that was supposed to mean.

Tony's face fell. "Man, really? That blows. I can't even impress you because you don't know who I am," he said, falling into the chair and crossing his arms in an almost childlike sulk.

"Why do you need to impress me?" Ichigo asked, laughing a little.

"I like to impress people," Tony said with a smile.

"Well, I'm impressed at how easily you're handling this whole thing, Tony," Ichigo said with a smile at the other man. Ichigo couldn't explain it. For some reason, he trusted him, and had since he first met him. Despite the fact he knew nothing about him; he felt this need to make sure nothing happened to him. He supposed if he didn't have anyone else to protect, he'd have to pick someone who didn't really need it. What would someone like him need to be protected from?

Tony grinned at him. "Oh, at least that's something. You should sleep; I'll be here if you wake up."

Ichigo's brows knitted in a scowl. "Aren't you going to sleep?" The man looked tired, honestly. He had circles under his eyes and looked rather exhausted.

Tony waved his hand at him as he sat down with the tablet. "Don't you start that, too. Got enough mother hens around here," he muttered and looked up. "I don't sleep much, but you should rest. Never know what tomorrow brings."

Ichigo nodded and laid his head back, pretending to sleep. He didn't need sleep anymore, to be honest. He felt fully rested and his reiatsu was back to normal. It was a strange sensation. He felt like he was in soul form still, but he apparently had gained a physical body similar to a gigai. However, it was as though that body had formed as a part of his soul form. He sighed and wondered about this new place. Mostly, he was curious about his saviors or jailors. He hadn't decided which they were just yet. He turned to his side so he could keep an eye on this Tony Stark. As much as he tried, though, he couldn't seem to build mistrust in him. The others, he had no reason to trust, and he really had no reason to trust Tony. Yet, he found himself doing just that.

A few minutes later, the tall blond man came into the room. Tony seemed to refuse onerously to look up. "Stark," he said after a few long minutes with a sigh. "You untied his restraints. We talked about this. Next you'll disobey Fury and give him his weapon."

Ichigo didn't miss the involuntary twitch in Tony's head at the other man's words. They irritated Ichigo, too, because it almost sounded like he was scolding an errant child, not discussing something with a man his own age, or perhaps older by the look. Ichigo found his jaw clenching.

Tony looked up at him then. "Steve, he's more than capable of breaking them; you saw how strong he was. He might even be stronger than you. Besides, he's much more comfortable with them off. I know I would be. In case you missed it, Fury agreed with me."

"You have to stop going against what the director decides, though, Stark," Steve said with a sigh, running a hand over his head. "You're going to do something that's going to cause us a lot of trouble one of these days. We have no idea what his capabilities are. For all we know, he could be weaker than you and the show of strength was a fluke."

Tony rolled his eyes dramatically and looked back down at his tablet, fingers flying across the surface as he spoke. "Look, captain tight-pants, I know what I'm doing, even if you people don't understand it. Anyway, he's a good kid, I know this. I did this amazing thing, called talking to him. Works wonders on getting to know someone, Capsicle."

"We don't know anything about him, Stark. Every word he says could be a lie. We don't know if he's AIM or Hydra or anything. If he's another super soldier experiment, who knows what the results could be? He should be put into one of the secure cells until we figure out where he came from and what his intentions are," Steve said, glancing over at Ichigo's not-sleeping form. Ichigo bristled at the words. He was not about to be locked in a cell.

"He's a kid. He's not dangerous," Tony said. "You all worry too much. Fury already agreed to let me take him to the tower and keep an eye on him there. He's safer there than anywhere else if someone's looking for him, and there's no way he can get out if he's a danger. Plus he can have a decent room, and JARVIS can let us know if anything is wrong. Fury knows that my security is better than any secure cell SHIELD has to offer. That's why he agreed."

Steve shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest. "Stark, I think it's a bad idea. I think…"

"Look, I don't need to know what you think, I already know. You made that clear, and you're just sore that Fury agreed with me and not you. We're not just locking him in a cell because he might be a threat. Fury agreed with me about that, remember? I'm not stupid, Spangles. I know very well that he could be a new ally or enemy. I sure as hell don't want to turn a potential ally into an enemy because we tossed him into a cell instead of showing him some common courtesy," Tony muttered, not looking up from his tablet now. It was obvious that he was trying to will the larger man away.

Steve snorted. "I hope you're right, Stark. I really do."

"I'm always right," Tony muttered as the blond man walked out of the room.

Ichigo watched silently as he stopped tapping on the tablet and put it down on his knees, dropping his head into his hands. Ichigo could see the tremors in his hands and he wondered what it was about this Steve person that made him so nervous. Tony sat up straight and took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a long moment. Finally he opened his eyes and looked down to realize his hands were shaking still.

"Dammit," he muttered, reaching into the tablet case and pulling out a bottle of pills. He shook out one and swallowed it without any water. "Screw him, stupid star spangled ass. Just keep his out of date mouth shut…"

Ichigo frowned and wondered just what that was about. He sensed a great deal of tension between the two men, and it was more than just simple pecking order of a captain and a lower ranking officer. Actually, this Stark didn't seem like a military type at all. He mused until about a half an hour passed and Ichigo was startled by a thunk. He looked to see that Tony had fallen asleep, his tablet sliding off his lap onto the floor. He was leaned back in the chair and while he wasn't snoring he was most definitely asleep.

Ichigo got up quietly and knelt down and picked up the tablet. He tapped a couple things and found it wasn't locked. He didn't understand half of the things on it. Perhaps he wasn't exaggerating when he said he was a genius. He was curious, though, about the glow in his chest. He'd never seen something like that before. So he put the tablet down on the small table and leaned over to pull the front of his black tank style shirt down to get a look at whatever it was. He frowned to realize it was embedded into his chest, and deeply by the look. He looked around it and it seemed to be some sort of power source or something. He let the shirt go and stepped back and sighed. He didn't know enough about biology or engineering to figure that out. He glanced at the tablet and nodded to himself. He wondered if he could get online with that.

He picked it back up and sat back down on the bed and looked for anything that looked like a browser when a voice spoke quietly from the tablet.

"May I be of assistance?" came a smooth, English accented voice.

Ichigo almost dropped the thing. "Um, oh, who are you?" he said quietly.

"I am JARVIS. Sir's Artificial Intelligence interface."

"Oh, okay, I'm sorry, he fell asleep, and I was just going to see if I could get online with this," he said quietly. "I want to see who these people are, you know."

"Of course, Mr. Kurosaki," the voice, quiet Ichigo realized, as though it knew Tony was asleep. On the screen a browser popped up in Japanese. "I have pulled up an appropriate browser for your usage. If you require more assistance, please ask."

"Um, yeah, thanks," he said, feeling weird talking to a tablet. So this Tony Stark had created an artificial intelligence, he thought to himself.

He spent the next few hours researching the people he just met, starting with this Tony Stark, SHIELD and the Avengers. What he found made quite an impact on him. For one, this wasn't his world at all. There were similarities; actually, things were almost identical history-wise, up until recently when Ichigo's knowledge of world events and this world's diverged. Ichigo's world had not suffered an earth shaking alien invasion in recent years. He'd never heard the names of this Iron Man, Captain America, or any of these people. Of course, he had no knowledge of American history, but from what he could tell, the news of what had happened reached all the major Japanese news outlets. He also had no knowledge of this Stark Industries which Tony was the head of. In this world, Stark's inventions and products were used worldwide, and a great many of them were in Japanese ads he came across. He would have seen them in his world if Stark existed there.

A little more research explained the Captain Steve Rogers and his odd attitude and strange dress, and Tony's amusing reference to him as a "capsicle" was about him being frozen in ice for a long time. The doctor was actually a huge beast creature called the hulk, but only when he got really angry. Sounded somewhat like Zaraki. He shook his head and kept looking. SHIELD. A new window popped open, but it wasn't a browser window. Curious he investigated and found it was the database of this SHIELD organization. He wondered how that got on there, but he continued to read and see what he could find. It was getting on toward dawn when he put the tablet down beside him and stretched his arms above his head. A whine from Tony's direction got his attention.

In his sleep, Tony had moved to curl in on himself in the chair. Ichigo realized that he was muttering under his breath and starting to thrash. At first it was minor, hands twitching and shaking his head, then he threw his hand over his head and almost fell out of the seat he was in. Ichigo got up and saw he was covered in a sheen of sweat and his face was locked into a grimace. He knew that look, he'd worn it himself after his mother died. It was the look of someone locked into a nightmarish hell of their own making.

Ichigo kneeled beside him and put a hand on his knee. Tony woke up with a start and nearly kicked Ichigo in the face, but of course, the shinigami's superior reflexes caught his leg before he could. Tony was panting for breath and obviously had been in some sort of nightmare. He swallowed and looked around, then glanced at where Ichigo was holding his thigh where he'd tried to kick him.

"Damn, I fell asleep, that doesn't happen much," he muttered, pulling himself up to sit in the seat as Ichigo let go of him and stood up.

Ichigo picked up the water bottle they'd left for him and handed it to Tony as he knelt back down beside him. "You alright?" he asked softly.

Tony drank the water quickly, and nodded as he sat it down. "Bad dream, that's all."

Ichigo arched one orange brow. "That was one hell of bad dream," he said finally.

"Yeah, nothing I'm not used to," he said, blinking drowsily. "I knew that was going to happen after I took…" he stopped and shook his head. "Never mind. Why are you even awake?"

"I don't need that much sleep in this form. If I was in my human body, sure, but this is my soul form, I think, or something like it," he said with a slight smile. "You sure you're okay?" he asked, again, growing more concerned. Tony's face was still pale.

Tony nodded, wiping a hand over his forehead. "Yeah, yeah, just fine. Um, so, what time is it, JARVIS?" he asked.

"Five twenty three am, Sir," the tablet replied from the bed where Ichigo had left it.

Ichigo handed it back. "Sorry, I borrowed it to do some research," he said with a smile. "Is that okay?"

Tony nodded. "Yeah, JARVIS let you in, so that's fine," he said, looking at the tablet. "What do you say that you come to my tower today? More comfortable than this helicarrier. I'd like to run some real tests on your abilities and figure out just what you are." Ichigo could easily see he wasn't telling all the reasons he wanted to return to his home.

Ichigo nodded and stood, stumbling a bit. "What the hell," he muttered and looked around. "I'm not too stable," he said, confused.

Tony shrugged. "You did fall out of the sky, remember? Come on, we'll head out," Tony said with a sigh, getting to his own feet.

"Shouldn't we ask that director or whatever?" Ichigo asked. Now that he was standing, he realized he was a few inches taller than Tony. That was strange, of course, a lot of the shinigami where overly tall. "And what about Zangetsu?" he said, looking over at the next bay.

Tony shrugged. "Nah, I do what I want most the time," he said, shoving both hands into his jean pockets and going to the next bay and overriding the lock. He was pretty sure he set off a silent alarm though, but he didn't care. Ichigo stepped in and grabbed the sword and put it onto his back. Tony smiled and led Ichigo down the empty halls of the helicarrier to the bay his armor was kept in. "So, do you like, fly?" he asked, stepping back into the open armor. Ichigo watched, fascinated as the armor seemed to encase his body completely. It added height to his form. He wondered if it was a constant issue for him. He knew before he gained his last couple inches over the last year, he was constantly annoyed at people that towered over him.

Ichigo shook his head. "I don't fly, I shunpo…er, flash step. See, watch," he said, and flashed to the other side of the bay and back.

Tony blinked as the armor finished encasing him. "Damn, so is it like a teleportation or something?"

"No, I just move really fast," Ichigo said with a shrug. "And I can used my reiatsu to stabilize myself in the air should I need to. So I guess, I don't fly but I can walk in the air if I need to."

"Well, I fly, so follow me," he said, his voice changing after the mask came down. He punched some buttons on his arm and the platform he was on began to rise. Ichigo jumped on it deftly and rode it up with him to the outside of the helicarrier.

Ichigo looked around and smiled. "So this is New York," he said, looking around as the lights completely lit up the darkness around and below them. It was like being in Tokyo at night. It was always astonishing. Even the brightest night in Karakura Town wasn't this vivid.

Tony nodded. "Sure, give you a tour later. Want to race back to my tower?"

"I don't know where it is," Ichigo said, looking at him with a scowl.

Tony pointed toward a series of tall buildings. "That one there, with the huge A on the side of it. That's my tower. There's a landing platform at the top. Think you can get there without me helping you?" he said, and Ichigo could hear the smirk in his voice.

"Oh yeah," Ichigo said, tracing the path. There were plenty places to launch off of without a problem between here and there.

Behind them, someone was yelling at them. Tony turned back and looked at Ichigo. "Better go before papa Fury gets here to give us a thrashing."

Ichigo snorted and launched through the air in shunpo. He touched down a few times, glancing back to see he was well ahead of his companion. Tony could move quickly, but nothing compared to his flash steps. Finally, he landed about ten minutes before Tony on the platform. He supposed he could have taken off, but what point was there to it? He wouldn't figure out anything without help. His best choice right now was to stay with this genius and the people he worked for. They had resources and maybe could get him back home. Tony touched down and walked down a ramp as robotic arms removed the armor. Again, Ichigo was fascinated by the mechanical marvels this man had.

"Damn, that was fan-freaking-tastic," Tony said, putting his hand on the palm reading lock as he stared in disbelief at Ichigo. "I've never seen anything move so fast."

They came in. "Welcome home, Sir, and Mr. Kurosaki," JARVIS piped up from the room around them. "Director Fury and Captain Rogers are in the living area."

Tony rolled his eyes. "Of course they are," he muttered, leading Ichigo into the room where Fury and the blond man stood looking rather stern. Ichigo walked several paces behind him and picked up on the subtle tremor to Tony's shoulders when he entered. What was it about this Steve Rogers that set Tony's nerves on edge?

"What are you thinking, Stark?" the tall, dark skinned man with an eye patch said, turning toward him. "You freaked out half the hellicarrier with that stunt. I know we discussed this, but I wanted it to be a controlled transfer, not you jetting off with him all of a sudden at five thirty in the morning! And I did _not_ agree to give him his weapon back."

Tony rolled his eyes. "It's a sword! It's not like Loki's mind control stick, it doesn't do anything but stab people, and there are all sorts of pointy things around to do that with."

Ichigo crossed his arms and glared from under his brows at the man as Tony spoke. This was the Director Fury he'd read about. "No one jetted off with me, I got here on my own, thank you," he said and leaned against the wall.

Both Steve and Fury stared at him. "What?" Steve said with a shocked expression.

"I said, I got here on my own, you aren't deaf are you? I shunpoed. Beat him by ten minutes, and I stopped to look around on the way." Ichigo was not particularly liking these two at the moment. So far, Tony had shown him consideration and was trying to help him out. These two were treating him like he was some sort of dangerous monster; granted, he was a dangerous monster but considering their hulk monster, they should really tone it down some.

"Really?" Tony said, frowning. "You stopped along the way and you still beat me?"

Ichigo smirked. "Yeah, the top of that building halfway between here, and the building across from here. Really a lovely view."

"How the hell did you move that fast?" Steve asked, glaring at Tony as he spoke, as though somehow Tony was at fault for everything that had occurred.

"Hey, look here, I am not from here, so I don't know what the hell your problem is other than what JARVIS showed me on Tony's tablet. And what I found out I'm not sure what it is I think about you people or this place yet. I do know one thing; you won't put me in a cell because I will get out. You don't have the capability from what I could discover online. There is no counter for my abilities in this world. He can't keep up with me in this form, and I'm not even in bankai, and that makes me a hell of a lot faster," Ichigo glanced at Tony who was watching him closely. "I'm not here because I want to be. I'm not here to mess with your world. I would like to go back to my own, but I am not an idiot. I know that may not be possible. So, just so you know, until I figure out what I'm going to do, you won't be telling me what I'm going to do, not now, or ever."

Fury stared at him for a long moment then looked at Tony. "You don't know the full abilities of SHIELD. Not to mention, you are just a kid."

"I think I do," Ichigo said, flash stepping behind Fury. "Seems JARVIS likes me or something because he let me into a lot of files. And I'm not just a kid. I've been fighting nonstop for the last few years, and I've spent more time than I can count in battles that would make you cringe. Yeah, by human count, I guess I'm nearly eighteen in my world. That doesn't count the time I've spent outside of my body in different worlds. Maybe a few months, maybe years for all I know. Time doesn't flow the same there."

Fury and Steve turned around. "What the hell was that? Do you have magic?" Steve said, gasping at seeing it.

"I'm not magic. I'm a shinigami. A Soul Reaper. A Death God. Whatever you want to call me in English. I reap the souls of the dead and send them across to Soul Society to be put through the rebirth cycle again. I fight and purify the hollows that try and consume souls before I get to them. They're spirits that are lost here and they're dangerous," he paused and looked around. "However, I don't know if they exist in your world like mine. I guess I'll find out. My reiatsu will draw them because I suck at controlling it. I am just a kid, after all." Ichigo paused and touched Zangetsu's hilt. "And as for my sword, you won't remove it from me again. This is not metal; it is forged from my soul, just like my clothes. I would have had no problem getting it back from you in that helicarrier."

Steve and Fury stared for a moment and Ichigo flash stepped back to his original position near Tony. "Now, if we have that taken care of, Tony was going to show me to a room I could stay in."

Ichigo reached out and grabbed Tony by the hand and smiled to him. "If you don't mind, Tony?"

Tony nodded, very confused. "Um, yeah, this way," he said, leading him off and down a hallway to the guest rooms. He had no idea why his heart was pounding in his ears at the moment.


	2. Trust Issues

**When Worlds Collide**

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><p><em>Author's Notes: So, surprise, demand for this strange crack pair and crossover was high. Who knew? Guess onward it goes!<em>

_11-16: Minor edits. And this has been Marvel-picked by my husband, a Marvel fan of over 20 years with Iron Man and Captain America being his two faves. So anyone with the stupid comment that this isn't "realistic" can go elsewhere. Seriously, what is wrong with people? Whatever happened to suspension of disbelief? This is a fantasy story, not reality. My husband is very critical. And he liked it, though I did make a few changes he suggested to both chapters one and two._

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><p><strong>Chapter Two<strong>

_Trust Issues_

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><p>"What have you gotten us into now, Ichigo?" the white hollow said as soon as Ichigo's eyes opened in their inner world. Ichigo was sitting on the side of the building of his strange sideways world and both Zangetsu and the hollow were staring at him.<p>

Ichigo snorted. "I didn't do anything. In case you missed it, I fell through a damn garganta into another fucking universe," he said moodily, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Pfft," the hollow said and rolled his black and gold eyes. "So what? Ain't like you left a lot of stuff behind in the old one. Why not enjoy this one, seems like fun to me!"

Ichigo groaned. "I swear, what are you on about now?"

"The short glowey one, take that for a spin," he said with a wide grin.

Ichigo blinked. "What in the three worlds are you talking about you albino nutcase bastard?" he said, frowning deeply at his white copy.

"Just what I said. He's begging for it. He needs a strong type like you to show him some deep love," he said, spinning around and thrusting his hips at Ichigo. "Ooh, and there were some hot chicks on that whatever it was, did you see that little minx with the black hair? I bet you could rock her world with our package. Oh, or you could take both…I wouldn't even mind that big blond boy, but he might not wanna be topped…so I'd go for the good looking cute uke bitches, if you find yourself in a manly mood. Any chick is good to bang…" he said with a wistful look on his face.

Ichigo flopped back onto the building. "Seriously, is sex all you think of, Shiro?" he muttered.

"Not my fault you won't fuck anyone. I'm backed up to my eyeballs in here," he said and jumped, landing with a thump on Ichigo's stomach. "Shit, I'd take you finding a damned sheep to fuck at this point. If it's hot, tight and…"

"Dammit, bastard," Ichigo muttered, shoving the other version of himself off before he could finish. "I do not just run around and sleep with everyone you want me to sleep with, in case you haven't noticed," he said, rolling onto his stomach and putting his face in the glass of the skyscraper he was sitting on. "Was kind of nice not having to listen to your perverted monologues when I was talking to someone."

Shiro gave a shrill manic giggle. "Look, my tongue is already blue, and you're givin' me blue balls to go with it," he said, licking the back of Ichigo's neck before Ichigo slapped his white head soundly.

"The status of _our_ balls is not your problem, you white freak," Ichigo muttered into his crossed arms. "Last time I checked, _you're _the horse, and I'm the king."

Shiro crossed his arms and glared at Zangetsu who was standing on the end of the flagpole like usual watching from under his fringe of black hair. "You see what I'm dealing with? Bastard finally gets his powers back, and I can finally talk to him again, and this is what I get!"

Zangetsu sighed. "Shiro, you are too forward. Ichigo needs to work this out on his own. He does not need your vulgar impulses coloring his thinking. Do you not wish to return to our home?"

Shiro rolled his eyes. "Ojjisan, I don't care, honestly, here, there, wherever, this bastard just needs to get fucking laid!"

Zangetsu shook his head. "You are, again, halfway correct."

Ichigo looked up and stared at Zangetsu for a moment. "What? How is he halfway correct?"

"The red string of fate has brought us here, Ichigo. Did you not notice the arrancar's beast form was that of a fox? The kitsune are notorious for tricking humans and shinigami alike. I feel that this one has somehow forced you to follow the red string despite being separated by whole worlds," he said.

"Yes, does this mean we get laid?" Shiro said, sitting up from where he'd fallen prostrate beside Ichigo in a pantomime of his host's position.

Ichigo snorted. "Seriously, Shiro, that's what you get out of this?" he said, looking at his white copy.

"Baby, you just point my…our…dick in the right direction, and I will be one happy fucking hollow," Shiro said with a mad sounding giggle.

Ichigo shook his head and thumped it on the glass and stared into the ever empty rooms of his sideways world. He wondered why there was never anything in the buildings. He sat up suddenly. "Someone's coming, I've got to resurface. Behave, Shiro, or I'll go join a fucking monastery and take a vow of chastity just to spite you."

Shiro glared at him. "You would do that too, wouldn't you?" he said with narrowed eyes.

Ichigo made a face and faded out. Shiro crossed his arms in a frump. "Bastard."

"Shiro, it is his body. We are only here because we are his power," Zangetsu said with a deep sigh.

"Fuck that, I want to get laid," he said, flashing off into the distance.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

The knocking brought him back to reality. Ichigo blinked and yelled out, "Enter," before he was even fully conscious. He blinked and looked up to see two people at his doorway. A woman with short red hair and a man with sandy colored hair stood there staring at him with appraising eyes.

"Can I help you?" he asked, looking them both over. Fighters, both of them agile, he thought, the man was ranged combatant, and the woman was capable in hand to hand if he didn't miss his guess. Both were dressed in casual appearing clothes.

"We just came in from the field and heard about your…appearance," the woman said. "I'm Natasha Romanoff, and this is Clint Barton, we work with the Avengers…" she began.

"As code name Black Widow and Hawkeye, yes I read about you in the files JARVIS showed me," Ichigo said, still sitting on the bed with Zangetsu across his knees.

Natasha looked at Clint and back to Ichigo. "I understand you've given the story that you are a shinigami. You know that is impossible. There are no such things," she said sternly.

Ichigo shrugged. "Your belief in what I am is not necessary. I am a shinigami."

Clint looked at Natasha. "Shinigami?" he asked.

Natasha stared at him. "A Japanese folklore, a myth. The idea that there are death gods, like our idea of a grim reaper, that come and take the souls of the dead."

"We do," Ichigo said, putting Zangetsu down on the bed and standing slowly. "The primary duty of a shinigami is to perform a konso, a passing, on souls and send them safely across to Soul Society to reenter the cycle of rebirth. Bright souls show power, and they are recruited by the Soul Reaper Academy and in turn become shinigami. I'm a little different; I'm a human with soul reaper powers. Long story. Our other duty is to purify dark souls, hollow souls, that are stuck in the world of the living and unable to pass over with a hunger for consuming other souls. Of course, this is all the crap they tell me. I didn't go to this academy and I sure don't know all the spiritual junk. I just kill hollows, and I was fighting in the realm of Hueco Mundo when some sort of kitsune arrancar shoved me through a weird ass garganta," he said, standing up and going to the window.

"I don't see hollows, and I don't sense any shinigami. So it could be there are none here, and my very existence is an anomaly. Perhaps that is why I gained a physical form when I passed between the worlds. Here, there aren't spiritual beings like me, and the portal altered me to suit my surroundings," he said with a deep sigh. "Doesn't help me figure out how to get back."

Natasha moved to try and grab the sword, but doing so wasn't effective because before she could even get to the bed where the blade lay, it was gone, as though it disappeared, and Ichigo was standing behind her, the blade in the ground in front of him as he leaned on the hilt.

"Now, now, don't get grabby," he said with a smirk. Natasha turned around. "No one is going to take Zangetsu again, thank you very much."

"How the hell did you do that?" she asked. "You teleported. Like Director Fury said."

Ichigo rolled his eyes and swung Zangetsu up on onto his back easily. "No, I don't teleport. I suck at kido, er, demon arts I think is the English, anyway, I don't do that stuff. I fight with my zanpakutou and that's about it. All I need. I shunpo. Flash step is the closest English, I think. And if I'm in bankai I move fast enough that I can look like I'm in multiple places at once."

"Zanpakutou?" Natasha asked. "Soul…soul blade? No, soul cutter blade? Is that what that means?" she said, glancing over the frankly oversized sword. There was no way in her mind he could quickly move that massive piece of steel.

"You know some Japanese, Tony does as well. Yes, normally it only cuts spiritual beings; however, it seems to have been altered as well, though Zangetsu is still present as usual. As is my hollow."

Natasha frowned. "Hollow? Didn't you say they were evil?"

"They do evil things, I suppose, they aren't inherently evil, just creatures of drive and hunger. I have one that shares my soul. Another long story. I'm in control, though, so don't worry about him. Lately he only has one thing…dammit, Shiro, go back to sleep," he said, looking up. He shook his head. "He's rather noisy since we arrived. He's rather adamant about what he wants."

Natasha and Clint exchanged a glance and looked at him again. "So, what do you want?" Clint asked finally.

Ichigo shook his head. "I don't want anything. I'm waiting for Tony to return. He said he had meetings at his business this morning and then he wished to run tests on me. I agreed to allow it. He wanted to test my speed and the difference in my shikai and bankai abilities. Other than that, I'd like to go home, but I don't know if that can happen."

Natasha nodded. "We'll be watching you," she said, glaring at him.

"Kind of hard not to when Tony has cameras everywhere, Romanoff," he said with a shrug. "If you do not mind, Tony-san said I could visit this communal kitchen for lunch with him. I believe I shall. JARVIS, please don't let anyone in while I'm gone," he said walking toward the door and waiting on Natasha and Clint.

They exchanged a glance and left, and Ichigo followed them out. Beside him, the panels lit up and Ichigo followed them away from the pair toward the kitchen. Natasha and Clint followed behind him, curious as to what exactly he was up to here. As they came into the common area, they saw that Bruce was already in the kitchen and Steve was sitting at the table. No doubt Tony would come up for lunch as well. The two spies sat down at the table by Steve and watched as Ichigo began to talk with Bruce in the kitchen about food.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Perhaps the worst part of owning a multinational, multimillion dollar company was administration. Tony had delegated much of it to Pepper, making her his CEO, but there were times when the board needed to see him, for some inane reason. Of course, today was one of those days that he had to be at the board meeting, which was annoying because he had an interesting and confounding person stashed upstairs that he wanted to run tests on.

He left just as everyone broke for lunch to escape to his upper floors. Finally, Pepper said he could go and she'd handle the rest. He hadn't told her yet about the strange person he had stashed upstairs. She'd worry, and he didn't want that. So he just hoped that his guest had been treated well while he was gone. JARVIS would have let him know if anything had happened, he was sure of that. He got off on the common floor because Bruce had promised to cook Japanese food in honor of their guest.

He found Natasha, Steve, and Clint all sitting at the dining table trying to appear like they weren't watching the kitchen. Tony rolled his eyes and stepped into the doorway to hear Bruce explaining what he was doing to Ichigo and Ichigo pointing out ways to do certain things differently. Tony leaned against the doorway.

"Bruce, didn't know you spoke so much Japanese," he said smiling at them.

Both men looked up. Ichigo grinned. "Banner-sensei certainly knows a lot of different things, Tony-san," he said with a shrug. "Arigato," Ichigo said, giving a slight bow to Bruce and smiling at Tony.

"Well, Tony, how did the meetings go?" he asked.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Boring as always. Worst part of this job," he muttered, going to the dining area and sitting down across from the other three. "I guess you met everyone now?" he asked, looking at Ichigo as he sat down.

"Ah, yes, I met Romanoff and Barton a little while ago, and of course, I remember Rogers-taichou from yesterday," he said with a smile at each of them in turn. "Tony, will we do the tests you wanted after lunch?" he asked, turning back to Tony.

Tony nodded. "Yeah, that works. I'm free the rest of the day, and well, obviously you're free. Did you like have a job or something?" Tony asked, leaning back and crossing his arms.

Ichigo shook his head. "No, I was in high school; well, as much as I could be when I wasn't in Soul Society. Lately though I had been busy with several power related things."

Bruce came out with a large tray of various dishes, all Japanese, most as authentic as he could make them. Ichigo smiled. "Ah, Banner-sensei, many thanks, this is wonderful! I never expected someone from America to know so much about our food."

The group ate in silence, Steve glaring at the different things more than eating them, but he did eat what he could identify. Once they were done, Ichigo smiled and bowed to Bruce after he stood.

"Again, thanks, now, Tony, we shall do your tests while I am in good spirits, yes?" he said with a grin at him.

Tony nodded and put his napkin over his plate. Ichigo had noticed that he didn't eat much at all; in fact, he more pushed the food around his plate than ate it. Curious, he thought to himself.

"Stark, shouldn't you have some of us present?" Steve asked, looking up with that same dubious expression Ichigo had noticed before.

Tony started to say something but Ichigo interjected. "Of course, I'd be glad if you came with us, it would be a good chance for me to see what your capabilities are as well. I am new here, after all. I should know what I have to be up against."

Tony glanced at him, slightly surprised but nodded, and then Ichigo surprised him even further by grabbing him by the hand again and pulling him toward the elevator. "Research lab, right?" he asked as they stepped in with the others.

Tony blinked. "Um yeah," he said but the lift was already moving. Tony glared at the panel. Just what was JARVIS doing anyway?

A few minutes later they were in the largest research lab which had all the instruments and scans that Tony might need. Ichigo glanced around and nodded as he spun around.

"Alright, Tony, do you want me at my highest power level?" he asked as the others congregated behind the control panel in the back of the room.

Tony nodded and looked up, still confounded by the whole situation. "Yeah, whatever you do."

Ichigo nodded and pulled his sword and summoned his bankai. When the smoke cleared, he stood in his strong looking jacket again. He caught the shocked look on the two assassins. They hadn't seen him release his bankai earlier.

"This is bankai. Basically we have three forms. I only have two, I skip the normal form where the sword looks like a normal katana. Shikai is the first form we take, where our swords alter and have special capabilities. I have a combat weapon, meaning my only special attack is my getsuga tenshou. Are these walls blast proof?" he said, looking behind him.

Tony looked up from the console, not believing what the readings were saying. "Um, yeah, they'll take a nuclear blast and stay up."

"Good," Ichigo said with a smirk and turned away, speaking as he swung down. "Getsuga tenshou!" he said softly, and the blast arced from his sword outward just as it should, rattling the entire building with the force. He turned back to see five stunned faces.

"Now, that's bankai. Then, I can do that with my mask," he said, reaching up and summoning the Vizard mask over his face. "This is what taps the power of my hollow," he said in a strange wavering voice behind the mask. He turned and repeated the getsuga tenshou, only this time, the blast proof glass cracked up the middle when the black and red energy shot out toward it.

Ichigo turned back and dismissed the mask. "Sorry about that, I didn't think it would crack it."

Tony was staring at the monitor. "That's…that's impossible. I designed that glass. It will survive being hit by meteorites in space. And you cracked it."

Ichigo nodded. "Yeah, nothing compared to a cero of some of the enemies I've fought," he said with a shrug. Those things make a nuclear bomb look nice. Anyway, you wanted to see my speed too?" he said, looking at the other four dumbfounded faces. Sure he was showing off. He couldn't help it. He was enjoying it.

Tony nodded. "Yeah, just a minute, I have to recalibrate. The power you're emitting is almost frying the circuits…" he muttered, fingers flying over the keyboards. He moved down, pushing Steve away where he was standing. "Move it, spangles," Tony muttered, trying to get the system back in hand. "If I don't fix this the whole system will overload because of his innate power."

"Yeah, sorry about that, I'm really bad at controlling my release of reiatsu. Everyone says I leak reiatsu everywhere, but I can't quite get a handle on it. I never seem to run out, you know, so I guess I have a lot. That portal, whatever it did, was the only thing that's ever took all of it," Ichigo said with a shrug as he swung the thin black blade in arcs.

Tony finally returned to the first area. "Okay, I think I fixed it. Now, speed. Can you do that flash whatever it was?"

Ichigo nodded, flashing across the room and back. "More or was that enough?"

Tony looked up. "Um, I didn't record movement."

"Um, okay, too fast, how about I just flash in a circle up and back for a few minutes and see if you can catch it?" he asked, looking at him.

"Sure," Tony said, not believing what he was seeing.

Ichigo nodded, flash stepping up to the ceiling, then across and back down to his position. To the others, it looked like there were four or five of him at once until they all seemed to fade out and he was standing where he started. "How was that?"

Tony nodded, fiddling with the recordings. "That…I can't even calculate that."

"That's impossible," Natasha breathed. "You…you move so fast you appear to exist in multiple points at the same time."

Ichigo nodded. "I do. Nice tactical advantage in a fight."

Tony looked at him and shook his head. "There's so much data that it will take hours to compile even with my system. I'm going to have to invent new programs to compile this…"

Ichigo nodded. "Hey, Tony, don't worry. I'm not really interested in the readings. Now, you wanted to do some medical tests too?" he said with a grin at him.

"Yeah, Bruce?" Tony said turning to Bruce with a blank look.

"Yeah, shall we go up to my lab then?" Bruce said with a grin at Ichigo.

Tony was standing at the console still as Ichigo came up and appeared to be staying. Ichigo reached out and put a hand on his arm. "You don't get to stay here, you're the host," Ichigo said with a grin. Tony looked up at him and nodded.

"You…okay, I can come. Not really my area, but…" Tony said, turning.

Ichigo smirked. "Of course, you have to come, Tony."

Natasha lagged behind with Clint as the others went to the lab and stopped him. He turned to her. "What's up?" he asked, confused by her action.

"Did you notice what he did?" she asked, watching as they got in the elevator.

"He did a lot of amazing shit," Clint said. "He wasn't exaggerating as much as I was hoping he was."

"No, he called Tony by his first name," she said with a frown.

Clint shook his head. "So?" he asked.

"You don't understand Japanese people and names. You notice he called us by our last names?" she asked and Clint nodded. "That's pretty normal with people you know on a one on one basis. I noticed he was using Tony's first name right off. First names are intimate things, and even friends sometimes don't use them, instead putting 'san', 'chan' or even 'kun' at the end of the surname. If he was using everyone's first name, it wouldn't mean anything, but he's using only Tony's first name."

Clint nodded. "So…what does that mean?"

Natasha shook her head. "I have no idea. For someone who seems to use surnames as he does, it is really odd for him to start calling one person by their given name."

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Tony was finding it all a bit odd, actually. It seemed that this Ichigo was gravitating toward him more than anyone else. He assumed it would be natural; after all, he had been kind and understanding to him rather than suspicious. However, his powers were scary. Now he was extremely glad that Fury had agreed with him on keeping him out of a cell and showing him some kindness. He honestly agreed with the kid that a cell wouldn't hold him. They stepped out on Bruce's floor and headed into his research med-lab.

Bruce smiled and looked at Ichigo. "Okay, if you'll hop up on here, Kurosaki," Bruce said with a smile and patted the exam table, knowing full well that he shouldn't use his first name. He had spent some time in Japan. "If you'll lie back, I'm going to do a blood and tissue sample."

Ichigo nodded. "No problem, Banner-sensei, my pop's a doctor. Done this a few times," he said, rolling up the sleeve of his kusodo.

Bruce stared. "So that is actually a part of your body?" he said, touching the black marks on his arm.

"Yeah, happened with Soul Society restored my power. Changed everything, have no idea why," he said with a shrug.

"You lost your power?" Tony asked from his position leaning against the counter next to them. Steve was standing next to him as well, but hadn't spoken.

Ichigo nodded as Bruce did a blood draw. "Yeah, there was this fight, and to stop the guy, I had to use what was a final getsuga sort of thing, mungetsu. Sort of a one shot thing, you know? Took everything I had. Ended up stopping the bastard from destroying all three worlds in the end. Soul Society figured out how to give it back. It was kind of good of them, I suppose," he said with a smirk. "Granted, it was in their own interest they did it."

Tony nodded as Bruce patted Ichigo's shoulder so he could sit up. Ichigo held the pad onto his inner arm where the blood had been drawn. Steve narrowed his eyes and spoke up finally.

"You seem to have an awful lot of power for someone so young, Ichigo," he said softly.

Ichigo's head whipped around. "You haven't earned the right to use my given name," he said nearly under his breath.

Steve blinked and glanced to Bruce who nodded quickly. "I'm sorry, I didn't know," Steve stammered, slightly surprised at the reaction.

Bruce spoke up behind him. "It is considered rude to use someone's given name, Steve, unless you know them well enough, and even then, it isn't often allowed except by very close friends."

Steve nodded, understanding a bit why he referred to the others by their last names now. He watched quietly as Bruce placed some electrodes on him and did a few more scans. Tony leaned against the counter beside him and watched quietly.

Steve looked at him. "Stark, I don't understand this at all. Why are we not doing something to contain him?"

Tony turned to him. "I am," he said, rolling his eyes. "What do you think these tests are for? You can't contain or control what you can't understand, Capsicle. Tossing him in a cell wasn't going to make him comfortable enough to talk, and it wasn't going to get him here with all the advanced instruments I have and the ones I made for Bruce. Why did you think I wanted him in the tower?"

"I…" Steve started and stopped. How could he argue with that? It wasn't irresponsible at all, which was his entire basis of being against it. He shook his head. "I still don't think we should have let him keep that sword," he muttered under his breath. Fury had given Steve strict instructions to make sure to keep an eye on what it could do and to make his priority acquiring it if anything went bad.

"Ichigo?" Tony said suddenly before Bruce put him into the scanner.

"Hum?" he said, turning his head toward him. Steve arched a brow at Bruce who shrugged.

"While you're in there, can I run scans on your sword over here?" Tony said, walking up to where Zangetsu was lying on the counter opposite the scanner.

Ichigo nodded. "Yeah, watch out, the blade is razor sharp, and seems able to cut anything here and not just affect spiritual beings, and don't put your hands on the bare blade if you can help it. I'm not sure what the results would be here, Tony," he said as he gave Tony a small smile. Bruce shoved the bed into the arc of the scanner as Tony picked up the blade.

"Damn, this thing's heavy…" he said, struggling a little with the weight of it. "A lot heavier than it looks…" he muttered, using both hands to take it over to an empty table. Steve stayed beside Bruce and Ichigo as the scans were done.

Tony began his scans first and then wondered if he would be able to get a metal scraping off the blade. He leaned down and took a diamond cutter from the tray and filed a tiny sliver from the blade. He watched as the blade itself seemed to heal. He blinked and started a metallurgical analysis of the metal. A few minutes later, Bruce called him over.

Ichigo sat up and rolled down his sleeve on his kusodo. "That all for me, doc?" he said with a grin.

"Yes, thank you, Kurosaki. I'll run the samples and everything, but it will take a while, of course," he said with a smile.

"Alright. Now, what do you want to do now, Tony?" he said, ignoring Steve completely and looking at Tony.

Tony shook his head. "I took a metal sample and did scans on the sword, and I'm running the analysis now, but like all the other tests, it is so complicated that it will take a while to get any results back. So…"

Ichigo grinned. "How about I show you some sword skills, then? Do you know how to use one?" he asked Tony.

Tony shook his head. "Um, no, I don't know if I could do that, I'm not really built for fighting," Tony said with a smirk.

"Nonsense. My friend Rukia isn't even five foot tall and she can take out men twice her size. She's annoying but good at what she does," he said with a smirk. "Come on, surely you have a practice room? It's good to work off some anxiety with a good sparring match."

Tony nodded. "Sure, come on. Steve, you going to come watch?"

Steve nodded, having had every intention to go even without the invitation. "Yeah, I'll watch. I'm not familiar with swordplay," he said, following carefully as Ichigo picked up Zangetsu and followed Tony.

A few minutes later they reached a training room with an assortment of practice weapons. Ichigo went over and picked up a solid feeling pair of practice katana and put Zangetsu in the stand. He handed one of the practice swords to Tony.

Ichigo nodded. "Do you know how to take a stance?" he asked him.

Tony shook his head, watching Ichigo and trying to imitate how he'd stood earlier. Ichigo frowned. "No, no, here," he said, moving behind him and adjusting his arms into a better stance. He stepped back and looked at his feet. "Here, this," he muttered, kicking his right leg out for a wider stance. "There, that's better," he said, stepping back.

Tony nodded but his heart was racing. What the hell was happening to him? He had no idea but he did as Ichigo showed him. He was doing pretty well, making the moves where he told him. Ichigo smirked, telling him he was doing well for someone with no training in martial arts. Ichigo was rather patient, only once getting irritated with him. For that, Tony got a sound swat on the ass with the practice sword when his mind wandered to Steve standing on the other side of the training room watching. Tony jumped and glared at Ichigo.

Ichigo snickered. "You have to pay attention to what you're doing. A real sword and you'll cut a finger off if you get distracted like that."

Tony felt heat crawl across his cheeks and nodded. Ichigo smiled. "That's enough, though. It takes a while to get down everything. I'm impressed, though, you're stronger than you look, and you learn fast."

Tony nodded, putting the sword back up as Ichigo replaced his own. "You saw my suit, want to see my workshop?" he asked. "I do a lot of metalworking."

Ichigo nodded. "Sure, I've shown off for you, I guess you should get a turn, now, huh?" Ichigo said with a smirk.

"I have plenty things to show off," Tony said and turned to leave. As he started to leave, though, Steve reached out and grabbed him by the arm to stop him. Tony turned to him and frowned.

"Um, Cap? What?" he asked.

"Stark, I see that you are right on some of these things, but I have to say I don't think taking him to your workshop is a good idea. I can't let you take him there. There are too many SHIELD secrets and technological advancements down there. There's no way the director would approve of you doing that," Steve said, eyes narrowed at him.

Ichigo turned and saw the immediate reaction Tony had. His eyes, that's where it was, Ichigo realized. The sudden and almost invisible flash of absolute panic that crossed Tony's face was unmistakable. Ichigo had no idea what caused it, and perhaps if he wasn't in bankai, he wouldn't have noticed it at all, and he most certainly wouldn't have found himself yanking the other man's hand away and pulling Tony away from him.

Tony was shocked into silence and Steve was just staring, still not believing the incredible speed with which Ichigo moved and having no idea why he would intercede between him and Tony. Ichigo looked at him with a deep scowl across his brows. "Now, I don't think what Tony does in his own tower is of any concern to you. You think far too highly of yourself, Rogers-taichou. Tony is perfectly capable of deciding where he wishes to have me in his tower. In case you haven't noticed, I can go wherever I like."

Ichigo grabbed Tony by the hand again and Tony stared for a minute before he was yanked forward by the orange haired boy. For a second, he contemplated telling him to stop, but he was still mid panic attack, to be honest and by the time got into the elevator, the adrenaline had taken over, and it had escalated to the irrational stage that he couldn't come down from easily. Vaguely he felt that he was moving and then he felt himself steered out of the elevator into the familiar sanctity of his workshop. But how did he get here?

He looked up over his heaving breaths at Ichigo who was talking to him. That's right, Ichigo led him here. How'd he know how to get here, he wondered…

"Tony?" Ichigo called. He looked up. "JARVIS, help me, what do I do? What's wrong?" he asked, starting to worry.

"Sir is having an anxiety attack. It has been a common occurrence since his time in Afghanistan and increased after the attack on New York. There is a medication bottle in the upper right drawer of the desk beside you," the AI informed him.

Ichigo nodded, rummaging until he found the bottle and shook one out but didn't see anything to drink. He remembered, though, that he took something before without anything to drink. Tony was staring wide eyed away and breathing rapidly. Ichigo knelt in front of him.

"Tony, Tony," he said. "Hey, here," he said, pushing the small pill between his lips. He seemed to know what was happening and swallowed without a fuss. Ichigo was so centered on what he was doing he didn't hear the door open behind him.

Tony blinked after a few minutes. "Oh, oh, sorry," he muttered, locking eyes on Ichigo's. "I…"

"Tony, shh, that was a bad one, and what I just gave you, if you don't pass out I'm going to be surprised," Ichigo said, glancing at the bottle on the desk. Those weren't mild anti-anxiety pills. Those were high dose sedatives.

"Oh, in the desk, dammit JARVIS," he muttered, his eyes fluttering. "He always tries to get me to take…those…" he muttered, slumping to the side. Ichigo caught him easily and stood with him, seeing a couch in the side of the room. He laid him down on it and grabbed a throw and covered him up. He paused for a moment and brushed a hand over his sweaty forehead for a second.

"Red sting of fate, huh, Ojiisan, I think you might be right," he muttered and turned around, nearly running into Natasha who was standing behind him leaning against the desk and watching him with her arms crossed.

Ichigo blinked. "Well, you snuck up on me, that's an accomplishment," he said, shaking his head.

"What did you mean? Red string of fate?" she said, watching him carefully.

"What Zangetsu said. He said it was the red string of fate that brought me here," he said with a sigh, walking past her to sit down in the desk chair. He picked up the pill bottle and put it back where he'd found it.

"JARVIS told me he had another bad attack," she explained as she turned to face him again. "I usually come help him. He doesn't let most people know about it."

"It?" Ichigo asked, looking at her.

"He's suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder since he was in Afghanistan and tortured and had that thing put in his chest. He was doing better, but during the fight to save New York, the government aimed a nuclear bomb at New York. Tony flew it into a portal into space, and barely made it back. Tony's not like me, or Clint, or even Steve. He's not military. He's a man, a smart man, but a man nonetheless," she said softly. "And for some reason, no one can trigger him like Steve. I'm still not sure what the whole issue is there. I just know that if Steve gets too aggressive he shuts down, or at worse, ends up having a panic attack."

Ichigo nodded. "He grabbed him, told him I wasn't allowed in here, I saw it, split second, pure terror crossed his face."

Natasha nodded. "I've seen it, too. It isn't anything that Steve's done, though. They've barely been around each other. It was someone else. I just have never been able to figure out who it is that Steve reminds Tony of so much that it sends him into such a severe panic."

Ichigo nodded. "Yeah," he said slowly. "I'll stay here with him. I'll ask JARVIS to get me online again," he said, nodding at the computer beside him. "I'm still figuring out about this place."

Natasha nodded. "Alright, tell JARVIS if you need anything."

Ichigo nodded and smiled as JARVIS pulled up what he was looking for before he could even ask. Natasha headed out the door and paused to watch. She didn't miss the fact that Ichigo glanced over at Tony every few moments. She frowned and headed back to the common area to find Steve sitting in the dining room again with a frown across his face. He looked up when Natasha came in.

"I don't trust the kid," Steve said to her as she sat down.

She looked at Steve for a moment and then nodded. "Well, I do."

Steve blinked and stared at her for a long moment before he got up and left the common area. He had to think on the whole thing, to be honest. He trusted Natasha, and if Natasha didn't think he was a threat, could he be wrong about the whole situation? After he left, Clint sat down beside her and stared for a moment.

"He did something to gain your trust," he commented, sipping his coffee.

"He did," she said, smiling at Clint. "He really did."


End file.
